Force India in trouble

[steve nielsen]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-20881007

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India's Kingfisher Airlines loses licence to fly
A Kingfisher counter at New Delhi airport Kingfisher's licence has been suspended because of concerns over finances and safety

India's troubled Kingfisher Airlines has lost its flying permit after a deadline to renew its suspended licence expired, the aviation regulator said.

Kingfisher has $1.4bn (£870m) in debts and it is looking to raise funds after lenders refused to give fresh loans
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so will this mean FI's owner will have to sell the team?

[Born Racer]

I wonder if Hulkenberg saw the writing on the wall.

[kartincolin]

I hope for the sake of the sport that they stay afloat.

[Paradise City]

He reduced his stakeholding in that airline to a fraction didn't he? Or was that the brewry?

I hope it was the airline!

Well, I hope the maximum people stay employed is what I mean!

[Marbot]

Force India have just received a £50 million boost from its board of directors, of which VJ Mallya is just one of. Nothing to see here.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/104447

[Ultimo]

Originally Posted by Born Racer

I wonder if Hulkenberg saw the writing on the wall.

That's insider trading. Prosecute him!

[EastonNeston]

The directors of FI could promise to invest £5000 million, but if the companies providing the promised funds collapse, which is very likely, the promised funding wont be paid.

it is well known that Mallaya's Kingfisher group, and Roy's Sahara group have significant legal and financial problems, of a size that are usually terminal.

[chillibowl]

yep. in fairness if one of the title sponsors for any team placed a hold on their commercial activities wouldn't we all be wondering how that affected the team which depended on their sponsorship revenue?

http://www.flykingfisher.com/

personally i hope we dont see the 'Fly Kingfisher' branding on the car at their roll out. its like painting "bankrupt' on the side of your car imo.

lots to see here

[JeremySmith]

Yes they are...

[EastonNeston]

The ultimate holding company for FI is UB Group Holdings, http://www.theubgroup.com , who are experiencing major financial and legal problems. It is unlikely that Mallaya will still be in control within the next few months, and with the financial wreckage that exists, it is highly unlikely that the new owners will want to continue spending on formula one.
The FI team does not have any significant external funding.

[Armco Bender]

Force India have just received a £50 million boost from its board of directors, of which VJ Mallya is just one of. Nothing to see here.

All its says is Force India have approved themselves to spend £50million....nothing about they've been given £50 million.

Kingfisher is grounded and $1 billion in debt.

[bella]

yeah, exactly. particularly considering the majority of the team sponsors are his in the first place. if they're on 30-90 day accounts with suppliers (lol, he'd be on proforma with me) then it might just pay the bills for the second half of the last season... more than likely it's just the money that's due anyway.

[EastonNeston]

When does the FI deal to purchase technology and support with McLaren end?
That must be a very large part of the teams budget, and has been shown in the past with other teams, if key suppliers are not paid on time, they have the right, and indeed do, stop the cars running.

I seriously believe that FI will not survive the season, unless there is a major new investor, and ideally a totally new ownership.

[BSchneiderFan]

For the sake of the sport, and di Resta, I hope this isn't so.

[EastonNeston]

The situation has been reported in many places, especially the business pages of many reputable media outlets.

Di Resta is wealthy and will hardly suffer, who will suffer are the small engineering suppliers who will have invoices unpaid as a result of the F1 collapsing.

[Flavio Galtieri]

So, Force India lead their second consecutive race in Melbourne, get both drivers in the points on merit and more interestingly soundly thrash their technical partners, McLaren.

Not bad for a team in trouble eh?

[IndyDonut]

Originally Posted by Flavio Galtieri

So, Force India lead their second consecutive race in Melbourne, get both drivers in the points on merit and more interestingly soundly thrash their technical partners, McLaren.

Not bad for a team in trouble eh?

At the very least, they should have no trouble finding sponsorship.

[EastonNeston]

Further writing on the situation by the excellent Joe Saward

http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2013/...r-force-india/

[steve nielsen]

http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/fo...crisis-430830/

[EastonNeston]

To be honest, that adds nothing to what we knew already, and what has been reported better on the business pages of many reputable newspapers.

[bella]

a) it's from gmm and b) they got it from italiaracing, the link to their story is here: http://www.italiaracing.net/notizia.asp?id=38498&cat=1

but yeah, same old same old. the different angle on the story compared to the general media version is the suggestion of potential bail-out names though they seem a bit left-field.

[JeremySmith]

No second driver announcement ? They are in major trouble aren't they..

[p-matt]

Surprised Saward hasn't got the killer blow in yet...

[chillibowl]

its like the punch Ali never gave Liston...why throw the knock out blow when your opponent is already falling to the mat!

[strider]

Let's get this straight. Mallya is in no position to do anything. The only chance is if Bernie decides to mount a rescue and, if he does, there's a good chance that Briatore will be involved because the two are good friends and it it would be a clever way of getting the Italian back into F1 in a favourable light. That's how I see it.